Monuments and memorials

Shot ID: 18804

10:47

[Title: Over the North Magnetic Pole; remark: in 1848, Sir John Franklin and his expedition of 129 men were swallowed up in the vast Arctic. Successive search parties learned that after abandoning their two ships, they succumbed to scurvy and starvation. In 1930, the Canadian Government, seeking true knowledge of their fate, sent an aircraft North to circumnavigate King William Isle, principal scene of the Franklin tragedy.] GROUND TO AIR MLS of Fairchild monoplane equipped with floats flying over camera. (Aircraft followed route from Edmonton to Peterson Bay, near King William Isle). PAN and AERIAL SHOTs of settlement at Peterson Bay. LAS of Fokker monoplane G-CASK airborne over camera flown by Walter Gilbert. Shot of plane being prepared by Major LT Burwash cameraman and Stanley Knight, mechanic. CS of Major LT Burwash peeking from open door of Fokker. CU of Richard Finnie using 35mm Eymo camera to record scenes of flight for Department of the Interior. Shots of men loading up, embarking and plane taking off from Peterson Bay for search for Franklin remnants. AERIAL SHOTs over barren land on King William Island, LT Burwash looking out window as plane flies over Cape Adelaide near magnetic pole. CS of note handed to Burwash from Pilot Walter Gilbert, asking for flight plan to bypass fog near Cape Adelaide. Burwash scribbles "turn back". High AERIAL SHOT over fog patches at magnetic pole. AERIAL SHOTs over Victory Point as Expedition flies back towards base. Shot of Expedition anchoring plane and getting off to find cairn, first evidence of what happened to Franklin. Shots of men searching, of Burwash removing stones from cairn, sorting rope, cloth remnants from cairn deserted many years ago. CU of Burwash piling evidence which he subsequently brought back to Ottawa, first proof of what happened to Sir John Franklin Expedition. [titles interspersed]

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